When Atlanta Braves fans think about the best catchers in franchise history, Brian McCann's name inevitably comes up. The recently departed Travis d'Arnaud had his moments, but didn't play in Atlanta for long enough, nor was he good enough. Javy Lopez has his supporters, but was a bit one-dimensional with guys like Joe Torre and Del Crandall also deserving of some love. For most, the list can only start with McCann.
From the day that McCann retired as a Brave, his case for being inducted into Cooperstown has been hotly debated. Supporters point to the relatively low statistical bar for catchers to be considered and the fact that McCann's 52.1 career fWAR compares very favorably to other Hall of Famers as well as his counting power stats.
Well, the 2025 Hall of Fame ballot has been released and McCann does appear on it, but Braves fans could be disappointed when the voting results come in this year.
The @baseballhof has revealed the 2025 Hall of Fame ballot.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) November 18, 2024
Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia are the most notable first timers, while Billy Wagner, who fell five votes short of election last year, returns for his 10th-and-final year of consideration by the BBWAA.
Full ballot: pic.twitter.com/qdhg2qLkEM
Brian McCann joins former Braves Andruw Jones and Billy Wagner on Hall of Fame ballot for 2025
Before we get to McCann, it is worth mentioning that former Braves Andruw Jones and Billy Wagner are also on the ballot. Wagner finished just a few votes shy in 2024, making this his last chance to get in before he falls off the ballot. Jones is appearing on the ballot for the eighth time and appeared on 61.6% of ballots in a minor but steady improvement over the previous years.
As for McCann, his Hall of Fame chances, at least on his first ballot, are far from certain. McCann will certainly appeal to a bloc of traditional voters who will see his seven All-Star appearances, 282 career homers as a catcher, and status as one of the best catchers of his era as points in his favor. McCann also grades very well in Fangraphs' framing metric which inflates his value among those who value that metric as well.
However, Baseball-Reference's WAR measurement doesn't like McCann nearly as well as his 32 career bWAR (versus 52.1 from Fangraphs) does not compare nearly as well to current Hall of Famers at catcher or any other position. McCann also was pretty bad in the second half of his career after he left Atlanta with .236/.315/.413 line from 2014 to 2019 and just 7.7 bWAR over that span. There will also inevitably be some voters that are at least partially against him, as he was a leader in Houston when all of that went down.
Given that there are some notable ballot holdovers like Wagner and prominent first-time candidates such as Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia under consideration, it wouldn't be a surprise if McCann didn't get in on this first try. As to his long-term chances of induction, how much support he gets this first year will be extremely telling as to how writers view McCann now that he has been away from the game for a bit.